Ontario
Fast facts
- Capital
- Toronto
- Largest city
- Toronto
Ontario is a province of Canada that is in the eastern half of Canada, between Manitoba and Quebec. Ontario has the largest population of any province, with over 16 million in 2026, and is home to the largest city in Canada, Toronto, which is also the capital of the province.
Ontario also has the second-largest land area, with 1,076,395 kilometers; only Quebec is larger by size. (Nunavut and the Northwest Territories are also larger, but are territories, not provinces.) The province has the longest border with the United States. Along the border are four large lakes: Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake Huron, and Lake Superior. All of them are partly in Ontario and partly in the United States, and the border runs through them. However, Lake Michigan is entirely in the United States. These five lakes are together are called the Great Lakes.
A number of symbols represent the province of Ontario. The Ontario flag is red with the British flag in the top left corner, and the provincial shield is on the right hand side of the flag. The provincial bird is the loon, and the provincial flower is the trillium. It has three flower petals and is usually white but sometimes pink or purple.
History
Ontario became part of Canada when they were created in 1867. Before 1840, it was known as Upper Canada, which was a colony in the British Empire. Between 1840 and 1867, it was known as Canada West. The government of Ontario sits at Queen’s Park, in Toronto. The leader of the government is called the premier, who is now is Doug Ford. The lieutenant governor represents the Queen, and the current Lieutenant Governor is Edith Dumont.
Geography
Ontario is very large and so people sometimes divide it into Northern Ontario and Southern Ontario. Most of the people in Ontario live in the Southern Ontario, which has the large cities: Toronto and the rest of the Greater Toronto Area, Ottawa and the National Capital Region, Hamilton, London, Windsor, and Sarnia. The cities of Northern Ontario are smaller. In the far north, hardly any people live at all, and there are no roads or railways, which make it difficult even to get to those places.
Much of Ontario gets lots of snow in the winter. In the summer, it can get very hot in the south parts, and in some large cities, there is smog.
Ontario borders the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Quebec and the U.S. states of Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York.
Written for younger readers
Ontario, in simpler words
This version comes from Wikijunior, a set of books written for children aged 8 to 11. It is shorter and uses plainer language than the article above.
From Wikijunior: North America
Ontario is a province located in the central part of Canada, the largest by population and third largest, after Nunavut and Quebec, in total area. Ontario is bordered by the provinces of Manitoba to the west and Quebec to the east, and the U.S. states of Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York to the south. Ontario is the only Canadian province that borders the Great Lakes. The capital of Ontario is Toronto, Canada’s most populous city and metropolitan area. The Capital of Canada, Ottawa, is located in Ontario as well.
Ontario was one of the first three provinces of Canada.
Ontario is located in southern Canada, and is bordered by Quebec to the east, Manitoba to the west, Hudson Bay and James Bay to the north, and Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, New York, and the Great Lakes to the south. The order the Great Lakes are in, from west to east, is Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, and, finally, Lake Ontario. The capital of Ontario is Toronto, which is beside Lake Ontario.
Where this page comes from
The article above is adapted from “Ontario” on Simple English Wikipedia, by its contributors. We removed reference markers, navigation boxes and tables, expanded measurement templates into readable numbers, and kept the prose otherwise intact. The simpler version is adapted from Wikijunior on Wikibooks.
Both sources are published under CC BY-SA 4.0, so this page is published under the same licence. You may share and adapt it, including commercially, as long as you credit the original and keep the same licence.
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